Conde Nast Portfolio Marcom Material Ad Supported

So I get in the mail a dm piece from Conde Nast Portfolio that has an insert for Visa Signature credit cards smack in the middle of the dm piece pitching me as a 'charter subscriber' a special preview of the upcoming Portfolio title. Even the back cover of the marcom piece had a FP ad for Visa.

Ballsy or boneheaded? I am not sure. I do know that I spent more time evaulating that sales piece than I did any of the so called 'preview' information.

The only take away worth anything more than a puff was John Grimwade's brief article on Infographics.

Either CN is holding a lot back for their launch or there is not going to be much there-there...

FHM closes its pages in the U.S.

Emap has announced that FHM will be shuttered in the U.S. To see a seven year old magazine earning 1.25 Million circ give up the race is surprising. Perhaps not as surprising considering that Mediaweek is reporting that their circ fell 3% overall and over 6% at the stand. Even more so when considering that their ad sales were down 22% in 2006. Still, how badly was this title being managed where you can't make it enough into the black on those kinds of numbers? An all or nothing strategy? Obviously there is a ton of me-tooism going on in the once hot 'laddie space'.

Psst! Hey Buddy...Wanna Be An Editor At Fortune?

Good grief...so Fortune has another new Managing Editor...the third top editor within six years. Andy Serwer, a Senior Editor at Large at Fortune and resident talking head at CNN, is slated to take over the helm at Fortune in a surprising move due to its low buzz prior to its announcement.

With Conde Nast poaching a lot of talent to fill their stable with experienced biz writers for the upcoming launch of Portfolio, it will be fun to watch the category slugging it out in 2007. With the relative low growth (and decline for some) among the category, which title will give up the ghost? Fast Company? Inc? BizWeek? Forbes is looking skinny and acting a bit desperate with their buying of keywords over at Google against a search like "Fortune mag"...blood in the water folks and the sharks are already circling...

How Large of a Portfolio of advertising will it have...

I have received at least three "it's coming soon" notices in the mail for the biz mag due from Conde Nast...Portfolio. While it doesn't launch until May 2007 (look for it in April), the high profile of this beast is sure to make its first issue a must read. They have a video up of Eric Schmidt talking about Google's future. Find it here.

The interview by the E.I.C. disappoints in my opinion. It is pretty clear that the era of fawning over CEOs is not over if Conde Nast has anything to do with it. Throw virtual rocks at Joanne Lipman, not me, if you agree.

Will Future Need To Stop Wearing Shades?

The future at Future US is not as bright as it once was. They recently announced to pull the plug on four magazines - two shelter mags that couldn't hang with the big dogs, one women's sports pub, and a new launch that just hit the one year mark - are all on the midden heap.


While this pullback is not as dramatic as the one seen in late 2000 when their golden teat known as Business 2.0 shriveled and shrank (prompting the closing of 10 titles and pink slipped hundreds worldwide), it is curious to this observer whether this is a trend we can expect to see from them every five years?


Their video game titles, such as PC Gamer and PSM, continue to shrink and their recent ad page counts in the November 2006 issues are slim considering two new platforms are launching. Indicative of the aging gamer demographic? Or something else?


[KC] They are keeping PREGNANCY - maybe if they changed it to VIRTUAL PREGNANCY or SECOND LIFE PREGNANCY, gamers would get it.

Hummina, hummina, hummina...SOLD!

So Time Inc. is going to sell off 18 titles. And some of the old standys are in this group: Field & Stream, Parenting, even Popular Science.

We think this is good for the magazine business. Out of 18 titles at least one senior manager is going to say, "Screw it! I am going to get a sugar daddy and launch my own magazine!"

Granted one or two new launches might come of this and while they won't be on the scale of Conde's Portfolio, we could use something cool like Make or Paste.

Relaunch Cracked? Are they Mad?

An investor group that bought out the assets of Cracked is releasing their first issue on the stands today for $3.99. This appears to not be your daddy's Cracked of half baked cartoons and satire. This has some money behind it and from what they are sharing on their web site, they have some talent lined up to write for it too including one of my favorites from MST3K - Mike Nelson!

Should New York Be Called New Amsterdam Again?

Ok, we're going to take a sidestep and talk about newspapers for a second.

So the Wall St. Journal is going to start selling advertising on their front page one-upping (or one-downing) The New York Times (the NYT began selling ad slots on the front page of their Business Section months back).

I can hear the reps at the WSJ now "Hey Joe...me take insertion order from you long time...". I wonder if Mr. Crovitz at the Journal realizes he's going to need new business cards which change his title from Publisher to Pimp.

Harvard Business Review - Good enough for Yalies

I picked up the most recent issue of HBR at the Atlanta Airport which set me back $10 or the equivalent of a 12 oz bottle of water and a Snickers bar from one of the HMS Travelhost spots. Normally, $10 for any magazine really will make one pause but in an airport concourse that level of spending is typically small time so it didn't engage my "Warning Will Robinson!" filter like it normally would hanging out at the reading couch at Border's.

I found it interesting that the issue had a cover dot promoting their own edit piece. Rather than whore themselves out for that last sliver of ancillary revenue the publisher decided to blatantly tout their own wares. Score one for growing a pair to fend off the ad creep on their cover.

The up front items were hit and miss with most of the main features solid save for one on Avatar-based Marketing (I don't expect fanboy based edit in HBR. It's bad enough seeing this dreck everywhere else).

I have to admit that I was intrigued by one of the cut lines: Eager Sellers and Stony Buyers: Understanding the Psychology of New-Product Adoption. That story had even more value than I had hoped and is exactly the type of useful and insightful edit from from a magazine flying the banner of an Ivy league school.

Speaking of that cover dot - it was heralding an exclusive interview with the Chairman and CEO of GE, Jeff Immelt. Well worth the read. Also, a surprising story on the benefits of making mistakes. That article alone should be sent annonymously to your bosses. If you haven't taken a look with an issue of HBR, take a flier on it or if you are not in an airport concourse, get on down to your local library and read the June 2006 issue for free and take the sub card home with you.

A DigiSet of Nylon With Your MySpace

Mediapost's 'Just an online minute' email newsletter recently inked about an NYT report that Nylon has signed a deal to issue a free digital edition of Nylon's June/July music issue for MySpace. Yup. For free.

There's no way a deal like this could be structured with a print edition (since MySpace has about 70 million registered users even 10% of them wanting a free mag would stunt any publisher's growth).

On the face of it, sounds like you can't lose here. It's a win for the advertisers in that issue (the digital version is said to mirror the print version), the digital version goes on the virtual rack one day before the print version, Nylon is bound to convert some subs (that alone could be worth this effort) but all is moot with an eye on the ROI that MySpace is bound to be jamming them for the 'opportunity'.

Simply Real Smart

Real Simple has what the movie business calls legs. Not only did it do well out of gate but it continues to rake in the cash from advertisers and delight readers which all adds up to a sure fire money machine for Time Inc.

The first time I picked up this title from the newstand, it even felt different. The selection of that smooth but velvety cover stock spoke to me in subtle tones. The layouts are, well, simple, without being bare bones.

The stories are short and quite useful. Several of the recipes actually work well and are designed to help streamline the home life after a busy day.

It succeeds on so many levels that their own largesse is beginning to dampen its allure through - horrors! - line extensions and one-offs. But it now also has Real Simple TV, which premiered nationwide on PBS in January 2006, and Real Simple 2- in-1 cleaning tools, which went on sale in Target stores in February 2006. Talk about brand power.

The most recent issue I read may not have been as fulfilling as the month prior but it was still filled with more than enough value to justify its cover cost (not the discounted sub cost - the cover cost). How many magazines can you say that about?

Interesting facts: Five of TimeWarner's 10 most profitable magazines were launched in the last 20 years. Real Simple, which is one of those five, turned profitable in just over three years after it was first published in 2000. Milk that baby!

It is easy to dismiss a juggernaut like Real Simple once it is up and plowing through fields of cash but when it launched no one really was looking forward to another title in this field. I think I still hear the faint echo of that collective groan. But, hey, if you really want to groan go pick up a copy of Good Housekeeping.

Just how poor could their timing be to have Tom Cruise on the cover? And what's with that cover photo?! Geez, put the PR and Art Director filters on pause people. With all the backlash going on with the sofa jumper you can bet the editors are popping the Tylenol as they review their sell-through numbers.

Foreign Policy Magazine - Champ or Chump?

Foreign Policy at the newstand. It was the Jan/Feb 2006 issue with our interesting neighbor down in Venezuela, Hugo Chavez, on the cover. The dominant cutline right over a photo of the grinning leader read, "Hugo Boss - How Chavez is refashioning dictatorship for a democratic age".

Frankly, I was intrigued by the cover (score one for them) and bought it. The editorial was solid and broached a few subjects that I had not previously encountered. The article on the NRA as global lobby and the story about Vladimir Putin's crackdown on the new oligarchs in Russia were more interesting but no less disturbing on some levels. And that is a good thing.

The layout is mostly two-column in layout and easy to read. The art direction is ok with the only real letdown being the oft visited area of Bangladesh for the amazing destruction of massive ships by hand. This subject has been visited in many other magazines with much more potent production values to gain much ground with readers here.

The publisher is the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace which makes you suspect where they might lean but I really didn't detect any major slant. Another plus.

All in all Foreign Policy gets it right I hope to see them increase their current publishing schedule to a more frequent one. Overall I'd rate this beast at a solid B which may not make it a full bore Champ but it is definately not a Chump. Check it out.